One Call Away
by Yondaime Namikaze
Summary: This is impossible. Keiko never gets sick. Now, she's fighting for her life in the hospital and there's nothing he can do about it...or is there? Yusuke is offered a deal from the Spirit World that could save Keiko from the mysterious virus that is wreaking havoc on her respiratory system. His end of the deal won't be easy, but neither would be the price for not trying.


**Hey, everyone! I've wanted to write a Yu Yu Hakusho fic for a while now and now here it is! My first Yu Yu Hakusho fic! Now, I'm still reading the manga and watching the anime. I'm still in the Dark Tournament arc. Doesn't really matter for the story, though. Only the beginning will match and then it will branch off into the AU.**

 **Before I begin, I often like to share my inspirations for my stories. This story's plot came about this past spring. Every spring, with the changing of seasons, I am faced with both allergies and a respiratory illness. Well, the cough that I get from the illness tends to last for weeks…sometimes months. That's how this fic's plot came about. As for the title, if you can't tell, I came up with that when I heard the song "One Call Away".**

 **Lastly, if you Twitter, I have a fanfiction Twitter account where I try to keep everyone posted on story updates and sometimes I even throw in some extra content! If you'd like to follow, the information is on my fanfiction profile!**

 **Enjoy the story!**

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Chapter 1: Typical Day...or Not...

"Yusuke Urameshi: Report to Mr. Takenaka's office immediately!" It wasn't the first time the announcement had been broadcast throughout the school. Just like all the other times, the announcement was ignored.

The door to the roof opened and Yusuke recognized the girl who stepped out. Keiko Yukimura. His childhood friend. "Hey. Nice skirt," he greeted her as she caught sight of him.

As usual, Keiko went off into some rant about school dress codes and how Yusuke was so irresponsible for not coming to school as often as he should. _**Yep. Typical day.**_ What wasn't so typical was Keiko's cough.

Keiko was so engrossed in her rant that she'd never even noticed Yusuke sneaking up behind her, ready to pull up her skirt and offer a perverted comment that would probably earn him a nice hard smack to the cheek. Just as Yusuke reached for Keiko's skirt, she began to cough. Normally, Yusuke would just wait for her to finish and then proceed with his plan, but this time was different. What Yusuke thought was a simple cough turned into a coughing fit and, as much as he didn't want to admit it (and would probably deny it if asked about it) he was worried. Keiko rarely got sick. In fact, she'd had perfect attendance in school for as long as he'd ever known her.

Still, Yusuke couldn't show his concern. That would go against his tough-guy fighter attitude and demeanor that he'd worked hard to perfect. When Keiko's coughing fit finally died down, she made to continue yelling at her childhood friend, but her voice came out soft and raspy. "What? Finally yelled yourself hoarse?" Yusuke taunted. "About time." Without another word, Yusuke walked away, leaving Keiko to attempt to yell after him.

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"Urameshi, I know that you're here today. Come to my office immediately!"

Yusuke leisurely strolled around the outside of the school building as the announcement rang out once again. The sound brought a scowl to the already-unhappy boy's face. "Damn it. When is that old man ever going to give up?" _**Geez, can this day be any more irritating?**_

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 _ **Why did I ask myself if my day could get more irritating?**_ Yusuke wondered. He'd thought that it wasn't possible that anything else could happen to piss him off, but, of course, he was wrong. Just because of his reputation, Yusuke had been blamed for trying to beat up two boys and steal their wallets. That was so far from the truth!

Fed up, Yusuke decided to just leave school and go home. He was just about out of the gates when a swift punch to the back of the head knocked him forward a few steps. That was the last straw! "Okay, somebody's dea—!" He stopped when he turned around and noticed the school principal, Mr. Takenaka, standing behind him. "Sorry, old man."

"That's Mr. Takenaka to you. I've been calling for you all morning on the loudspeaker," he began, stepping closer to Yusuke.

"Didin't hear it," Yusuke replied, cockily, as he turned his back on the principal. "Guess it mustn't be so loud after all, huh?"

Before Yusuke could react any further, the principal began to drag him by his ear back toward the school _ **. No way am I staying in this place any longer!**_ Always a master at slipping away and not getting caught, Yusuke broke free and jumped up onto the fence at the front of the school. With a defiant "Leave me alone!" he jumped down from the fence and walked away in a huff, complaining about how "the one day he felt like going to school, everyone decided to give him their stupid lectures."

As he walked down the street, he kicked a stray aluminum can, startling the adults who were hustling and bustling around on the sidewalks. He sensed them before he saw them—the boys about his age who popped out from the shadows. Yusuke knew those boys…they were the friends of…

"Urameshi."

Him. Yusuke glanced over his back at the tall boy who had just arrived. He knew this boy all too well. "Hey, Kuwabara, you're conscious. I'm not used to that."

Kuwabara, angered by Yusuke's words, stepped forward to grab him by his shirt. "That was a cheap shot last time and I was only knocked out for a little bit, okay?! Now I'm back and I'm gonna beat your face up so bad even kittens won't look at ya."

Many would probably be intimidated by Kuwabara, but not Yusuke. With a dark smirk, he told Kuwabara, "So sorry you caught me on such a bad day. It makes me a real jerk." A punch, a kick, and a knee to the midsection. Yusuke sent Kuwabara to the ground with only a few strong offensive moves.

With Kuwabara down, the other boys were no longer fearless. As Yusuke faced them, they cowered back in fear.

"You win!"

"Don't hurt us!"

Yusuke had no fight with Kuwabara's friends; they hadn't instigated or come looking for a fight. They'd just been following Kuwabara. Pushing past them, wordlessly, Yusuke continued on his way home.

Arriving home, Yusuke found that his mother was just waking up. It was almost lunchtime by this point. "Oh great. Mother of the year."

"Get me coffee."

"I can't believe she's still in bed," Yusuke muttered to himself as he walked over to the carafe of coffee that was sitting on the stove. He turned the stove on to heat up the liquid in the carafe as his mother asked him why he was not in school.

"I left because they pissed me off."

At this answer, his mother replied, saying something about quitting school and getting a job. Yusuke sensed yet another lecture coming his way and he was not happy about it. "Are you going to give me a lecture too, Mom? While you're in your pajamas?"

His mother was clearly not fazed by his reply. She turned on the TV and lay back down, telling him that "if he hated preaching so much, he should live on his own." Then, of course, she reminded him that he could not do that.

Yusuke growled in frustration. _**Fine! Let her get her own damn coffee! I'm done.**_ In a huff, he left the house again, slamming the door behind him. He decided to just walk the streets. Sometimes just being alone helped.

A soccer ball bounced down the sidewalk and came to rest at Yusuke's feet. Yusuke picked up the ball as a little boy in overalls ran up to him and asked for his ball back. Though Yusuke was still mad at everything from today, he really didn't want to see this kid get hurt. Kneeling down to be at eye level with the boy, he yelled to him, "Listen, Kid, that's dangerous! There are cars going by that will splatter you into the pavement!

The boy looked about ready to cry. _**Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh to him. He is pretty young.**_ Softening his tone, Yusuke finished, "Alright, go ahead and get lost. It's not safe playing ball around here, you understand?" Passing the ball back off to the boy, Yusuke walked away.

Yusuke safely crossed the street and then looked back to where the boy had been. He was still kicking the ball on the sidewalk. "Dammit, what's the use? The kid can get smashed by a car for all I care." Turning away, Yusuke walked down the street. He had only walked a short distance away when he heard a screeching of tires. Though he'd said that he didn't care, Yusuke couldn't help but to hope that the boy had not been hit. He rushed over to the scene of the accident, but a crowd had already surrounded the area and he could not clearly see if the boy had escaped unscathed.

In the distance, Yusuke could hear the sirens approaching. The ambulance neared, but drove right past the scene. _**Okay, that was weird.**_ Still he could not get a glimpse of the boy. That was when he realized. _**Wait, that ambulance was heading toward the school. Keiko was sick this morning…which is weird because she's never sick.**_ Immediately Yusuke forgot about the little boy and ran toward the school. _**Please don't be Keiko. Please don't be Keiko. Keiko, please be okay!**_

As he ran, Yusuke couldn't help think about how, even just an hour ago, he couldn't be happier to get away from the school and now here he was rushing back. Arriving at the school, Yusuke joined yet another crowd, smaller this time, which had formed to learn why an ambulance had rushed to Sarayashiki Junior High. By the time he'd arrived, Yusuke did not have to wait long for answers. The EMTs were just rushing out a stretcher. Atop the stretcher, her face covered with an oxygen mask, lay the one girl who Yusuke would not hesitate to risk his life for, the one person that he knew would always have his back no matter what. _**It…It can't be…Keiko!**_

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 **And that's a wrap on Chapter 1! As you can see, definitely going to diverge from the original plotline now. It took forever to write that beginning because I don't really like writing chapters word-for-word from the original work. I actually like being creative. Hope that everyone enjoyed the first chapter!** **P.S. Any lines taken directly from the English dub do NOT belong to me. I just used them for this story which I will not publish for profit. Standard disclaimers apply.**

 **Thank you all for reading and supporting One Call Away!**

 **Posted: September 12, 2016**


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